ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana at 14:14 CEST on 14 April. The successful launch marks the beginning of an ambitious voyage to uncover the secrets of the ocean worlds around giant planet Jupiter.

Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 14, 2023
Years in the making, a major software update that has been installed on NASA's Curiosity rover will enable the Mars robot to drive faster and reduce wear and tear on its wheels. Those are just two of about 180 changes implemented during the update, which required the team to put Curiosity's science and imaging operations on hold between April 3 and April 7. "The flight software is essentia

San Antonio TX (SPX) Apr 14, 2023
Some of the asteroids NASA's Lucy mission will visit are still more than 330 million miles (530 million kilometers) away from the spacecraft, which is more than three times the average distance between Earth and the Sun. But despite the great distance and the comparatively small sizes of these asteroids, Lucy caught views of four of them recently. From March 25 to 27, 2023, Lucy used its h

Orlando FL (SPX) Apr 14, 2023
AUniversity of Central Florida researcher will be using the newly constructed Two-meter Twin Telescope (TTT) in the Canary Islands, Spain, to study metal-rich M-type asteroids. The work can inform the study of asteroids like 16 Psyche, an M-type, or metal, asteroid NASA is launching a mission in October 2023 to visit. The M-type asteroids offer both high concentrations of metals that

New York NY (SPX) Apr 13, 2023
Remarkable advances in private launch capability and space-based technologies are creating vast new opportunities for businesses and investors in low-Earth orbit - and beyond. A new book by Space Capital founder and managing partner Chad Anderson plumbs the depths of these new opportunities, while also explaining the challenges and risks that need to be considered. "The Space Economy: Capi

Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 14, 2023
The history-making rotorcraft has recently been negotiating some of the most hazardous terrain it's encountered on the Red Planet. NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has completed its 50th flight on Mars. The first aircraft on another world reached the half-century mark on April 13, traveling over 1,057.09 feet (322.2 meters) in 145.7 seconds. The helicopter also achieved a new altitude reco

San Antonio TX (SPX) Apr 13, 2023
NASA's Juno mission completed its 50th close pass by Jupiter on April 8, 2023. Since the spacecraft arrived at the giant planet in 2016, its JunoCam imager has captured spectacular views of Jupiter, and its large moons Ganymede, Europa, and Io. Many of those images were processed by volunteers called citizen scientists. To mark the 50th close pass, NASA teamed up with Google Arts and Cultu

Kourou (AFP) April 12, 2023
Could vast, long-hidden oceans be teeming with alien life in our very own Solar System? A new chapter in humanity's search for extraterrestrial life opens on Thursday as Europe's JUICE spacecraft blasts off on a mission to investigate the icy moons of Jupiter. First discovered by Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei more than 400 years ago, these ice-covered moons are so far from the Sun t

Paris (ESA) Apr 13, 2023
A key focus of ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) will be Ganymede: Jupiter's largest moon, and an ideal natural laboratory for studying the icy worlds of the Solar System. b>Why focus on Ganymede? br> /b> There are a handful of key reasons Juice will home in on Ganymede. Firstly, Ganymede is thought to have a salty ocean beneath its icy shell. This ocean may be large enough

Kourou (AFP) April 14, 2023
The European Space Agency's JUICE mission to explore Jupiter's icy, ocean-bearing moons will again try to blast off on Friday, a day after the first launch attempt was called off due to the threat of lightning. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana at 1214 GMT, 30 seconds earlier than Thursday's aborted effort. If suc